Gut-Busters Lighten Up the Miles

"Hear the one about ...?"

My running pal Joe always says, "It's not a trail run without a good joke." While recently encouraging my wife to pace a friend ...

Illustration by Jeremy Collins

My running pal Joe always says, "It's not a trail run without a good joke." While recently encouraging my wife to pace a friend at the Leadville Trail 100, I said, "It's easy. Just make sure he stays on the trail, keep him alert, and tell lots of really bad jokes."

When we're in the heat of a long trail race or the throes of a serious training bonk, even the worst eye-rollers somehow become funny. It's as if anything—even a poorly delivered joke about private parts or bodily functions—presents a better alternative to stomach problems, thrashed quads or throbbing blisters. Trail-running jokes are like golf jokes: told to pass the time.

Did you hear the one about the ultrarunner who shuffled into the aid station of a 100-mile race a few years back? "I've been feeling lousy for the last 20 miles," he said. "I just can't keep it together."